Islamism is a threat. Islam is not
by The Economist · Australian Financial ReviewThe Economist
Sep 15, 2026 – 11.52am
Sohail Ahmed, a former Islamist, was six years old when his parents radicalised him. He remembers music being banned from the house, and his teddy bear having its head cut off (many radicals prohibit representations of sentient creatures). The catalyst was the Bosnian genocide of 1992-95. “This is how much white people hate Muslims,” Ahmed recalls being told. It was the first wave of radicalisation among British Muslims, he says. The second came with 9/11, Afghanistan and Iraq. Gaza, he fears, is the third – allowing extremists “to drive a wedge between Muslims and non-Muslims”.
That wedge may be growing. “Their doctrine is simply not compatible with our culture,” wrote Charlie Downes in a recent social-media tirade. The campaigns director of Restore Britain, a far-right party, was referring to Muslims. Last year a YouGov poll found that 41 per cent of Britons think Muslim immigrants have a negative impact on the country, more than double the figure for any other religious migrant group; 53 per cent agreed that Islam is incompatible with British values.
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